Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) at Work for Manufacturing, launched by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, is a series of four courses designed to improve mental health literacy among employees and leaders in the manufacturing industry. Lynn Burke Hennighausen and Rob Vallentine, national trainers for the program, joined IndustryWeek during Mental Health Awareness Month to discuss mental health challenges in manufacturing and how the MHFA training program can lead to a safer and more productive work environment.

For this episode, Tobii’s director of products and solutions, Keith Bartels joins Smart Industry’s Scott Achelpohl for a conversation about how visual data is helping teams streamline onboarding of employees, reduce errors, and strengthen standard operating procedures—all without adding complexity to day-to-day work.

In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Thomas Wilk, chief editor of Plant Services, is joined by Christine Nishimoto, director of asset management software at IBM, for an insightful discussion on how AI agents are reshaping data-driven asset management. Together, they explore the evolving role of artificial intelligence in improving productivity, sustainability, and safety across manufacturing sectors. From tackling long-standing data challenges to envisioning multi-agent systems that can automate complex workflows, the conversation highlights the transformative potential of AI tools in industrial environments. Christine also emphasizes the importance of transparency, data integrity, and regulatory compliance as organizations adopt these technologies.

• Clean, accessible, and accurate data is critical for effective AI-driven asset management.
• AI agents can automate multistep tasks like work order creation, boosting efficiency.
• Tailored AI tools must respect industry-specific privacy and compliance standards.
• Adoption of AI across sectors is accelerating, revealing untapped optimization potential.